An Overview of Electricity Demand Forecasting Techniques

Load forecasts are extremely important for energy suppliers and other participants in electric energy generation, transmission, distribution and markets. Accurate models for electric power load forecasting are essential to the operation and planning of a utility company. Load forecasts are extremely important for energy suppliers and other participants in electric energy generation, transmission, distribution and markets. This paper presents a review of electricity demand forecasting techniques. The various types of methodologies and models are included in the literature. Load forecasting can be broadly divided into three categories: short-term forecasts which are usually from one hour to one week, medium forecasts which are usually from a week to a year, and long-term forecasts which are longer than a year.  Based on the various types of studies presented in these papers, the load forecasting techniques may be presented in three major groups: Traditional Forecasting technique, Modified Traditional Technique and Soft Computing Technique. Keywords: Electricity Demand, Forecasting Techniques, Soft Computing, Regression method, SVM

Evaluation of soaked and unsoaked CBR values of reinforced-soil with coconut husk fibre (CHF)

Recently, soil reinforcement has received more attention due to sustainability, simplicity, and costeffectiveness. The research aimed was to evaluate the efficacy of coconut husk fibre (CHF) in improving the strength properties of laterite soils. A series of laboratory tests such as Atterberg limit test, specific gravity test and hydrometer test was carried out on raw soil. Physical tests were conducted on CHF including density, specific gravity test, and water absorption testing. Geotechnical properties of both unreinforced and reinforced soils were determined through the compaction test and soaked and unsoaked California bearing ratio (CBR) test. The reinforced-soil was prepared by mixing with different ratio of CHF of 0%, 0.25%, 0.50%, 0.75%, 1.00% and 1.50% by mass of dry soil. All unreinforced samples (control samples) are prepared with 0% of CHF. From this research, it had been identified that 0.75% of CHF has the highest CBR value of 27%

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: An Overview

The healthcare industry is advancing ahead swiftly. For many healthcare organizations, being able to forecast which treatment techniques are likely to be successful with patients based on their makeup and treatment framework is a big step forward. Artificial intelligence has the potential to help healthcare providers in a variety of ways, including patient care and administrative tasks. The technology aims to mimic human cognitive functions, as it offers numerous advantages over traditional analytics and other clinical decision-making tools. Data becomes more precise and accurate, allowing the healthcare industry to have more insights into the theranostic processes and patient outcomes. This chapter is an overview of the use of artificial intelligence in radiology, cardiology, ophthalmology, and drug discovery process

Integrating Nanotherapeutic Platforms to Image Guided Approaches for Management of Cancer

Cancer is a leading cause of mortality worldwide, accounting for 8.8 million deaths in 2015. The landscape of cancer therapeutics is rapidly advancing with development of new and sophisticated approaches to diagnostic testing. Treatment plan for early diagnosed patients include radiation therapy, tumor ablation, surgery, immunotherapy and chemotherapy. However the treatment can only be initiated when the cancer has been diagnosed thoroughly. Theranostics is a term that combines diagnostics with therapeutics. It embraces multiple techniques to arrive at comprehensive diagnosis, molecular images and an individualized treatment regimen. Recently, there is an effort to tangle the emerging approach with nanotechnologies, in an attempt to develop theranostic nanoplatforms and methodologies. Theranostic approach to management of cancer offers numerous advantages. They are designed to monitor cancer treatment in real time. A wide variety of theranostic nanoplatforms that are based on diverse nanostructures like magnetic nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, gold nanomaterials, polymeric nanoparticles and silica nanoparticles showed great potential as cancer theranostics. Nano therapeutic platforms have been successful in integrating image guidance with targeted approach to treat cancer

A De Novo presentation without Renal Failure.

Calciphylaxis is a poorly-understood condition whose pathogenesis involves systemic calcification of arteries and arterioles. It is usually seen in patients end-stage renal disease, with an incidence of approximately 5% in dialysis patient and patients with calcium-phosphate dysregulations.1,2 However, there have also been reports of patients with biopsy-proven calciphylaxis with normal calcium-phosphate balance and renal function. We report a morbidly obese 45-year-old female with significant past medical history of necrotizing fasciitis with superimposed pseudomonas infections requiring multiple rounds of antibiotics and debridement. She presented to hospital due to chronic thigh wounds and debilitating pain. Patient developed tender and ulcerated lesions on her bilateral inner thighs spontaneously and was treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and doxycycline. Wound cultures grew pseudomonas and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Rheumatologic work up including antinuclear antibody, rheumatoid factor, anti-double stranded DNA, anti-ribonucleoprotein and complement levels were all within normal limits except for elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate and c-reactive protein. Patient was given multiple analgesics of which ketorolac helped the most. She was referred to dermatology after which excisional biopsy of wound was performed. Biopsy result revealed tissue necrosis and calciphylaxis. Patient was started on sodium thiosulfate (STS) infusions after discussing with dermatology and was discharged in stable conditions from hospital. The exact cause of calciphylaxis still remains unknown. It is thought to be due to intravascular calcium deposition in the media of the epidermal and subcutaneous arterioles causing medial calcification and intimal fibrosis of the arterioles resulting in thrombosis and occlusions. This leads to ischemic skin necrosis which is the most common clinical finding in calciphylaxis.3 For non-uremic calciphylaxis, there appears to be a predilection of Caucasian females, primary hyperparathyroidism, obesity, malignancy, connective tissue disease and vitamin D deficiency.4-5 Our patient had some of the risk factors including morbid obesity, middle aged Caucasian female and Vitamin D deficiency. Calciphylaxis has two-year mortality rate of 50-80% secondary to sepsis, hence preventing patients with known risk factors from developing calciphylaxis is imperative.6 The lesions of calciphylaxis are often debilitating and wound care with debridement of necrotic tissue as well as systemic antibiotics are of utmost importance, if indicated. In recent years, treatment include the use of STS, which chelate calcium from tissue deposits and bisphosphonates which are thought to help in removing arterial calcifications.7 It is important to understand that calciphylaxis may occur in patients without renal impairment and early interventions may be helpful to decrease debilitation and mortality